Has this ever happend to anyone before?

I was installing LS1 brakes on my car this week. I do the passenger side first, and as I go to bleed the brake line, I find I cant get the bleeder bolt loose. The thing is seized.

The bolt ends up stripping, even with a 6 point socket so I use this tool I have for removing rounded bolts. It basically twists onto the bolt and bites into it to break it loose. I was then going to replace it. Well, I place the bit onto the nut, torque it and POP, the whole nipple twists off.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...e919/07173.jpg

The other caliper was fine. the bleeding screw loosened without too much effort at all.

At first I thought I could retap it and use a larger diameter bleeding bolt but nope, the the liner inside of the hole is made of a very hard metal. .So I had to place an order at Advanced Auto today for a remanufactured caliper. Its costing me $44 with a $50 core charge! I can't believe the core charge is more than the part itself.

 

Bummer... Nice red caliper too. At least it wasn't too expensive. $44 isn't too much. You get the core money back.

 

Bleeding Nipple

 

He said nipple

 

did u try a screw extractor to get the rest of the bleeder out?

 

Well, from what I could tell the entire bleeder came off with the nipple as one piece. They were fused together. What you see in the pic is what was left. I think thats a steel liner built into the caliper, hence why I thought I could tap it. Now that you mention it it does look like the bleeder broke off in there. I didnt try a screw extractor, but I did attempt to drill it out which didnt work either.

Well, I finally got everything put together. The remanufactured caliper worked out well. The irony in actually buying the replacement caliper is I had thought about rebuilding my calipers, until I found out that rebuild kits run $18.50 a piece, times 4. (one for each piston) It was either $37 a piece to rebuild them myself, or $44 a piece for a remanufactured piece with all new hardware. With prices so close I opted to not rebuild them but after the mishap ended up buying a new caliper anyways.

Well, tomorrow I'll finally get to test them out. Can't wait.

 

Hey SteveO how hard was putting the LS1 brakes on an LT1? Also how did you bleed the brakes? Your car has Anti Lock Brakes right? Thought there might be a difference with ABS.

 

Its not hard at all.

Theres 3 bolts holding on your stock spindle, one on the upper and lower control arm, then one on the tie rod end. Once you disconnect those and the brake line you can remove your old brakes. The only trouble you could run into is that the spindle may need some coaxing to come loose from the control arms.

If you decide to reuse your stock LT1 lines, youll have to modify the brackets but it doesnt take too much ingenuity at all to figure that out. Just make sure to check steering lock to lock clearance before bolting everythign up and driving off. I had to extend my brakets about an inch closer to the caliper so the lines would have clearance. Also, if you decide to use your stock brake lines, you need to use the bolt from the LS1 caliper to attatch the brakeline, as the bolt from the stock caliper wont work. Lasty, if you go this route, make sure you pick up some new copper brake washers so you can seal the hose to the caliper.

Bleeding the brakes was done just like normal. I did passenger first, then drivers, then passengers one more time. Oh yeah, be sure to check for leaks with the car running so you have the vacuum booster putting extra pressure on the brake line. It would suck to think you're done then drive off and not be able to stop.

I used this guide to help me.
http://www.fbody.com/tech/details.cgi?id=30

Hope that helps.